


One Bullet For All

by mortalitasi



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Action, F/M, Friendship, Gen, General, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-25
Updated: 2014-08-25
Packaged: 2018-02-14 14:53:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,052
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2195994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mortalitasi/pseuds/mortalitasi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Second fic written for the prompt challenge on tumblr!</p><p>Garrus and Shepard hide out heroically behind a bunch of crates while waiting for backup. A little bit of bleeding ensues.</p>
            </blockquote>





	One Bullet For All

"You need to stay awake."

She blinks at him, slowly, but the glassy look in her eyes isn’t going away. Spirits, haven’t they done this enough times? How many more until luck runs out?

"I know the drill, big guy," Shepard says, one hand lifting to brush its fingers against the back of his own. "Please don’t do the weird… fluttering thing with your mandibles. You do it when you’re worried. It weirds the hell out of me."

"Well,  _excuse_  me,” he replies, and then has to duck when another grenade sails over their cover. “These guys just don’t know when to let up!”

"I think it’s part of the… Reaper job description," she murmurs. Her grip on her shotgun laxens, and the weapon clatters to the ground next to her. He shuffles nearer, as fast as he can while he’s crouched (the turian skeleton does not lend itself to creeping around behind stacked crates while you’re being pelted by cannibal Reaper troops). Garrus has to shake her to get her to open her eyes. Her eyelashes are unfairly long. He hears that’s a coveted trait among humans. 

"Shepard," he says, trying to ignore the worried burr in his voice. "Hey.  _Yma_.”

Her lips pull down in a frown. Her other hand presses lightly into the wound at her side. The blast had blown through her barriers and her state-of-the-art armor, straight down into the fabric mesh and skin below. “Present, Vakarian. You don’t need to be so loud. I have a horrible headache…”

"I think the migraine comes with the whole ‘being pummeled’ package," Garrus jokes weakly. Her head lolls forward again. He curls a claw under her chin and tips it up. "Remember what I said about staying awake?"

"You should get going," she says. Part of her hair, plastered to her cheek, comes loose and hangs to the side. She reddened it after Tuchanka. He wishes her hair were the only place he’d have to see red.

"I’m not going anywhere," he replies. "They can’t get past the generator— by the time they figure out how to shut it down, Ashley’ll be back." 

She coughs. “I sure hope so. Williams is… good about not being… late…”

Garrus’ eyes move downward, and to his dismay, notices that despite the generous applications of medigel—

"Shit. Are you bleeding?"

Yma tilts her palm in his direction, just enough that he can catch the wet glisten of it in the dim light of the cargo warehouse. She tries to hold the pieces of her armor together, but it’s not working very well.

"I, uh… think that’s an affirmative, Vakarian," she mutters. She slurs the end of that last word, elongates it. "Christ. I sound  _drunk_.” 

"You’re funnier when you’re actually drunk," he assures her, and it earns him a raspy laugh.

Her eyes shut again. “Best boyfriend ever. Real supportive.”

"I aim to please," he says quietly.

Her fingers tighten around his, just a little, and he returns the pressure. He’s ready to resign himself to being unable to wake her up again when a Reaper footsoldier literally  _flies_  over their cover and lands very inelegantly face-down on the ground about five feet away from them, wreathed in biotics. It twitches once, twice, and then lies still. Garrus reaches for his sidearm. In the time it’s taken him to touch the holster, the reason for the sudden silence of the warehouse has appeared. 

Ashley Williams is a vision in blue— and a really goddamn welcome sight. “You in one piece?” she asks, lowering her N7 Valiant, the barrel of which is still smoking. “I brought backup.”

"Goddess, this place is a mess," Liara says as she steps over the pulp of what used to be a marauder, the indigo halo of her biotics dying away. "Shepard?" 

Garrus looks back at Yma, and all of them fall silent.

"Help me get her up," he says, and Ashley comes over to their side. She slings one of Shepard’s arms over her shoulder and in one movement, she and Garrus have hefted their commander up. Yma’s unresponsive legs crumple beneath her, but their combined strength keeps her standing. Sort of.

"What the hell happened?" Ashley demands, and Garrus knows she’s not blaming him. The entire crew is past pointing fingers at each other. Fighting together means thinking together. He’s just glad he doesn’t have to do it alone.

"She took a rachni blast to the side." Garrus swallows. "She may have, ah… pushed me out of the way." 

The situation is far too serious to be thinking about comedy, but Ashley’s resulting expression makes him regret he didn’t have his omni-tool active to memorialize it forever. Liara sighs. A cannibal in the corner of the room spasms lifelessly.

"For f— "

"Relax, Ash," says a croaky voice, and it startles them so badly they nearly drop the person they’re supporting. It makes her hiss in pain. "I’ve had worse."

Garrus is pretty sure he then knows what it feels like to have boneless legs. He drops his head to her shoulder, face nestled in the crook of her neck. She smells like metal and smoke and the cool tang of medigel. And she’s  _awake_. He’s happy turians can’t cry.

"God!" Ashley says as they hobble along, averting her eyes. "You two need to get a room." _  
_

"Says the lovely lady who’s been making cow eyes at _Mister Vega_.”

Ashley chokes on her own spit, turns red, and sputters a denial. “You have no idea what you’re talking about— ma’am.”

"Yeah, alright, except I saw you both back at the apartment. Nothing escapes me, Williams. _Especially_ on shore leave.”

They’re completely engaged in an all-out argument when Joker radios Liara, his voice blaring loudly in what any human would call her ear. “Did you guys get to them alright? Is Shepard—?”

She’s walking a good yard or so behind them, bringing up the rear (mostly because it’s the perfect entertainment spot).

"They’re all fine, Jeff. We’ll be back in a few minutes. Have Chakwas prep the medbay," Liara says, her gaze lingering on the careful way Garrus has rested his arm around Yma’s waist. There’s still good in this galaxy, if you know where to look. Luckily for Liara, the business of knowing is right up her alley. 


End file.
